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Late last week, House DFL and GOP leadership came to a power-sharing agreement. The House held its first floor session of the year on Thursday. Rep. Lisa Demuth (R, Cold Spring) was elected speaker for the remainder of the two-year session. Other provisions of the agreement include:
- Full GOP control of House proceedings and committees. A March 11 special election is likely to return the House to a 67-67 tie. Pending the results of the special election, committees will then have an even, 50/50 partisan split.
- House GOP will chair a fraud-prevention committee and will retain an advantage in the committee even if the House returns to a tie.
- Rep. Brad Tabke will be seated.
On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Eric Tostrud ruled in favor of the Minnesota Chamber in their effort to uphold the First Amendment rights of businesses against the unconstitutional law. In 2023, the Legislature and Governor Walz passed an elections law to stop many businesses from engaging in the political process. The provisions would have enforced stricter limits on companies contributing to candidates or ballot-question committees if their foreign ownership exceeded the state's set threshold. According to the law, a company would have been considered over the threshold with just 1% foreign ownership from a single foreign national, or 5% overall foreign ownership. Judge Tostrud’s decision was decisive, ensuring that the rights of Minnesota businesses to participate in political speech are protected going forward.
The MN Chamber is actively working with legislators on amendments to make the paid leave mandates more acceptable to employers. Some top-line examples of this work include:
- SST: fixing the “more generous PTO” issue; adjusting notice and documentation provisions; addressing SST misuse issues; and possible exemptions.
- Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML): program launch delay; program scoping modifications (e.g. total number of weeks; weekly benefit formula); beta test options; private plan viability and functionality issues; seasonal employee definition; and possible exemptions.
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